


The Solar System

by BeHappy215



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-12
Updated: 2015-10-18
Packaged: 2018-04-26 00:38:44
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,525
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4983112
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BeHappy215/pseuds/BeHappy215
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of fluffy romantic one-shots meant to soothe our hopeless romantic spirits.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Stars

Stars have always been one of your favorite things in the world.

As a child, you remember your Dad painstakingly glueing each one of the glow-in-the-dark variety on your ceiling. It reminds you of home and of your childhood dreams. All you have to do was look up and it felt like the whole universe was shining down on you.

As a pre-teen, you remember waking up bright and early, leaving the house at 4am to catch the team bus that's leaving for a soccer tournament the next state over. You remember how it is going to be your first time away from home without your parents, without Kyle by your side. You remember being absolutely terrified at the thought but you also remember the nervous excitement creeping in at playing soccer with a fresh new set of faces. You remember looking up at the clear night sky and suddenly feeling at awe at the sheer number of bright lights right above you. You feel small and outnumbered but at the same time, you feel lucky at that you have a chance to see such a beautiful sight.

As a teen, you remember sneaking into school gym and getting your first kiss on the rooftop underneath the stars. You don't remember the kiss as much as the night sky above because it was the first thing you see when you open your eyes.

As a freshman in college, you remember losing your first game against UNC at a penalty shootout. You blamed yourself for the loss and decided to get balls into the back of the net in the middle of the night when you couldn't sleep. You remember lying on the field when your legs have finally given out after an exhausting day you've just had. With tears in your eyes, you just soaked up the sight of the stars and soothed yourself by thinking about how your Dad always reminded you that you should always reach for the stars. You remember closing your eyes, lifting your arms and reaching out for the night sky as you finally come to terms with the loss. You remember your surprise when someone places an ice cold bottle of Gatorade on your outstretched hand and feeling someone plop down beside you. You remember meeting her for the first time and how she couldn't sleep as well despite her team winning. Like you, she has always reached for the stars and decided to get some drills in for all the goals she let in during the game. You ended up talking about the stars and how you both hope to be one in the future.

As a junior, you remember breaking your leg and having a near-death experience. You remember how you were confined to a windowless ICU room and crying yourself to sleep at the fear of everything slipping away. You remember the fear of almost losing your life, the fear of never being able to play soccer again, the fear of never being able to even run or walk again. Then, you remember waking up still groggy from the meds to the beautiful hazel eyes of Ashlyn Harris. At that time, you've been dancing around each other for the last three years. You remember the mutual attraction, occasional flirting and continuous support flowing between you two. You are equally surprised and elated that Ashlyn is right by your hospital bed.

"Hey there Princess, you gave me a real scare there. I thought I'd lost you." You heard her whisper as she failed to hide the emotions in her voice.

You tried to respond but realized that you had an obnoxious oxygen mask.

"Hey, don't try to talk right now Princess. I'll do the talking for now okay?"

You silently nod and crack a smile.

She sits down right beside you on the bed and grabs something from her backpack.

You remembered that it was a large jar of papers stars, which she placed between the two of you. You remember how she gently took your hand in hers and said that words that you have been wanting to hear the last three years.

"Alex, I'm sorry you are hurting right now. I'm sorry it took me this long and for this to happen for me to finally say this. You are the strongest, kindest, most beautiful woman I've ever met in my life. When I think I couldn't fall in love with you anymore, you give me another reason to. I love you Alex. I'm in love with you and I want to be with you."

You remember her pausing and steeling her voice for whats to come.

"I've had this jar since I first met you three years ago. Every time I thought about you, I would grab a piece of star paper and write down a reason why I love you. Every time I thought about wanting to do this with you on a date, I would write it down and place it in the jar. Every time I missed you, I'd write it down and carefully fold it into a star for you. All the stars inside are our past, present and future. Alex, I'm asking you to be my girlfriend because I loved you then, I love you now and I will love you forever. If you ever need proof of that, you can simply grab a star from our jar and read one out loud. I hope this makes us for the lack of stars in your room tonight."

You remember furiously nodding your head to her entire speech and you distinctly remember how she gently removed your oxygen mask to place a fleeting kiss on your lips before you finally say I love you too.

As a young adult, you remember leaving the United States and Ashlyn behind for Germany and Soccer. It wasn't an easy choice but it was actually Ashlyn who encouraged you to go. She reassured you that your relationship was forever but opportunities like that were fleeting. You remember looking at the stars every night and found comfort in knowing that Ashlyn was looking at the same set of stars as you. You remember how she surprised you on cool night out in Frankfurt that ended up with wine on the balcony at midnight, looking up at the stars as she tells you that she's moving to Germany for you. In Duisburg.

You remember coming home with her to D.C and spending your first night back by making love under the stars in the hot tub of the new house you just bought together.

You remember the sun shining brightly the day after you had won the World Cup together and stars of a different nature was given to you and Ashlyn during the jersey ceremony.

You feel a kiss that never fails to make you smile and brings you back to the present. It is exactly 2 years after the World Cup and you are having your daily morning coffee with your newly-wed wife.

"What's going on in that pretty head of yours, my love?"

"Mmmmmm, just thinking about all the stars in my life" as your eyes land on the almost empty jar of stars that Ashlyn had given you all those years ago.

She smiles and placed another full jar of stars on the table. It was actually your idea to have it in your reception. Family, friends and all guests of the wedding were encouraged to write down their best date ideas, marriage advice, memories of the couple onto the star paper and place it in the jar. It was a sweet and sentimental souvenir from their wedding yesterday.

"So princess, this jar is ours to keep and treasure from our wedding but this..." You see her pull out an even bigger jar as her smile gets even bigger.

"This jar is for our future now that we are married. We will fill it with the stars of our marriage and the stars of our children."

Your dad always told you to reach for the stars and of all the ones you've encountered in your life, nothing and no one is more important than the star that shine brightest in your life.


	2. Sun

Sunsets have always been your favorite time of the day. Growing up, you’ve always found such peace just sitting on the beach as the sky turned bright orange to vibrant blue to muted purple then to still darkness in just a matter of minutes. 

Things were always crazy and busy in your house. Between Chris getting into trouble, your parents fighting over money, and your mother’s watchful eye, all you wanted to do back then was escape and find peace. You didn’t necessarily want to be happy, you just wanted to be content. You wanted to turn off all the voices in your head. You wanted the world to stop for just an hour so that you can take a breath, cry and fall apart without anyone seeing. It feels like the only time you could have such peace was during the sunset. It felt like everyone including the fishes would stop and stare as the sun said good night. 

On the flip side, you used to hate sunrises. Who the hell was happy at the ass crack of dawn? You thought it was a necessary evil that came with morning soccer practice and empty waves. You associated sunrises with all-nighters when you would sigh and watch the sunrise as you finished another useless essay about the theory of knowledge. 

Then, just like that… everything changed. 

You tore both of your ACLs back to back. You were furious at how your body had betrayed you not once, but twice. You weren’t sure if you could bounce back from this. The first tear was hard enough, and you were still not 100% when you tore the other one. You woke up alone and in pain after your second surgery to the sunrise and you almost screamed at it in frustration. You hated that the world kept on moving when yours just fell apart. 

You cried and you almost quit. But you didn’t because of two people: Whitney Engen and, most importantly, Ali Krieger. Whitney was, is and will forever be your best friend. She gave you tough love and told you the hard truth. Ali though… she was, is and will forever be your sunrise. She became your inspiration, your motivator, your ray of hope in those dark and depressing times. She decided to forgo her summer with her family and spent it with you. Now, you know how much of a sacrifice she made for you to get better because she could not function as a normal human being that early in the morning. With or without her precious coffee.

But she had been encouraging and enthusiastic your entire recovery process. She would kiss you awake every morning at 4:30am and had you in your kit by 5, at the pitch by 5:30. Anson was unhappy at first that a Penn State Nittany Lion was using your field but he quickly became amused at how Ali forced you to work, forced you to be better. You started associating the sunrise with Ali, good morning kisses and hard work. You made it back in record time and won another championship in your senior year. 

You find yourself watching yet another sunrise today and you have to admit. Sunrises have become your thing now. Sunsets are still beautiful and you’ve spent many romantic moments with Ali by your side. But sunsets are always followed by darkness, sunsets always make the night cooler and have begun to make you feel physically and emotionally colder when you watch it disappear. Sunsets always mean the end of the day and sometimes, you are not ready for that especially when time was so limited between you and Ali. Sunrises brought new beginnings and promises. Funnily enough, you’ve heard people say her smile was as bright as the sunshine. 

____________________________________________________________________________

You proposed to her as she was waking up after a long night of anniversary celebrations. As is the norm now, you woke up before her and you took her in. The first thing you noticed was the softness of her skin. You’ve always been horrible at taking care of your skin and the only parts of it you baby are the ones covered in ink. But Ali’s skin is soft and smooth to the touch, you couldn’t help it and used your fingertips to draw mindless patterns on her lower back. Sometimes, you can’t help yourself and you gently cupped her butt under the sheets before you resumed your daily worship of her sleeping form. You realized that you both didn’t need grand romantic gestures, you just needed each other. You gently untangled yourself from her and grabbed the ring box from your jacket from the night before. Just as stealthily, you crawled back into bed with her and pressed a chaste kiss on her lips. She barely stirred. You slowly peppered her face with small but gentle kisses until you saw her eyebrow quirk up and cracked open one eye. 

“Sorry, Ali Krieger is not open for business yet. Try again in 2 hours.”

“Did you just refer to yourself in the third person?”

“I apologize for the inconvenience but Ali Krieger does not open until 8am or until there is a fresh cup of coffee available. If you have any further questions, you can direct your call to customer service.”

You laughed and sighed at her silliness before you decided to wake her up right. 

“Will you marry me?”

You felt her tense beside you and immediately opened both eyes.

“Are you serious?!”

You shrugged and proceeded to present her with her engagement ring. She screamed yes, fully awake at that point and in your happiness, you realized that the sun has just risen over the clouds and it was the beginning of a new day and the rest of your lives.

____________________________________________________________________________

Just as the sun peeks over the clouds, you head back into the house and make your way into the nursery where your daughter is just waking up. Despite looking exactly like Ali, she is a morning person, just like you. 

“Good morning princess, ready to wake Mommy up?” 

You gently place her on your hip and make your way towards your room. 

“Mama, can we sing the wake up song now?”

“As soon as we see Mommy, you can start alright?”

As you open the door, you hear your daughter’s voice start singing the very same song that your father sang to you as a child.

“You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray. You’ll never know dear how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away.”

As Ali wakes up, you smile and remember how far you both have come and so much has changed. You hand your daughter off to her and you can’t help but believe that Ali will always be your sun and stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just want to thank krashlyntome for correcting my mistakes on here before I published this. Much appreciated!

**Author's Note:**

> Let me know if you have any prompts, suggestions or requests. Thank you so much for reading


End file.
